Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A Love Affair

I have a "thing" for fizzy water.

Oh, I'll drink the ice cold well water straight from the tap readily enough. But man alive, I adore that fizzy, strangely effervescent yet sour taste of fizzy water. It could be club soda, it could be old fashioned seltzer, or fancy schmancy Perrier, but it is all the same to me.

Delicious.

Now, my problem is the massive amounts of plastic bottles my little addiction carries with it. Not so great for the environment, even if I do recycle them, nor are all those chemicals slowly leaching into my favorite drink likely doing my innards any favors.

What is a girl to do?

I've been contemplating one of these:

courtesy of www.sodastreamusa.com

Of course, it sounds like a great idea. But then I read all these horror stories of exploding shrapnel from the CO2 cartridge, and ill-fitting gaskets. Most of the reviews are raving about what a fantastic investment it is, and how they love how easy it is, how reliably it works...and then you get one posted that says "it was all fun and games until Jimmy lost an eye..." Good heavens. Really? An eye?

Ouch. Poor Jimmy.

Still, one can't believe everything one reads on the internet, right? It seems like it would be a deal: fizzy water from my own well water, made at home when I want it. And, you can even buy refill CO2 cartridges at my local Walgreens drugstore. Less plastic, less trips to the recycling center, less chemicals. Not a bad bargain, if you think of it along those lines.

Too good to be true? Perhaps.

I think I'll go read some more reviews and ponder my options: Buy one of these, or just by stock in Perrier?

2 comments:

I got one from my son last year for my birthday. I LOVE it! I usually just add lemon concentrate with no sugar or pour a few ounces of fruit juice in a glass and then add the fizzy water. That way I can control the sugar and no caffeine. It also works great for liquid for pancakes and waffles-I use fizzy fruit juice and then don't add any other sugar. Just be sure that there is a store nearby where you can exchange the CO2 cylinders.